


The Enlightened

by urbanmagician



Category: Doctor Strange (2016)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-05
Updated: 2017-04-05
Packaged: 2018-10-15 04:27:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10550052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/urbanmagician/pseuds/urbanmagician
Summary: Time endlessly fascinated Kaecilius.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Просвещенный](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10436580) by [urbanmagician](https://archiveofourown.org/users/urbanmagician/pseuds/urbanmagician). 



Time. Time endlessly fascinated Kaecilius. The way fire fascinates a moth.

The stay at Kamar-Taj concealed the passage of time, lulled one's vigilance. It was a place of consistent routines, where everyone wore the same clothes, and a rare visitor from the outside world would quickly be absorbed into the homogenous mass of students. Seasons came and went, preceded by the same measured, practical preparation, and escorted out with the same philosophical attitude.

Even trips out to the colorful streets of Kathmandu, where everyone was so different that they too blended into a homogenous, albeit disorderly mass, did nothing to the feeling of constancy. Even occasional traveling — they weren't locked in, after all, in fact they were even freer to move about than nearly anyone else — did not awaken the mind. The great deserts, oceans, mountains and forests — there was enough of them to last a lifetime, and they were far more interesting than all these tiny, scurrying humans in cities, with their nitpicky changes in fashion and vehicles. For other people, the likes of Kaecilius were aliens from the very first day — so does it matter how many days has it been?

Decades passed until he finally realized that they... have passed. Astonished by this fact, he studied his reflection at length, but had nothing to compare it to. One cannot remember all the nuances of his own appearance which he encounters every day. And all the daguerreotypes have burned down along with the house.

"I age," Kaecilius said, and winced at the banality of it. Even more stupid than saying "the skies are blue" — that, at least, may vary.  
"But I age slowly. Unnaturally so in respect to the rest of the world, I'm sure of it," he continued. "I went back to Europe, saw what year it was. My face has acquired more lines, that is true, but I should have already been a very old man."

The Ancient One smiled, mischievous and elfin, and said:  
"Of course. You use magic every day, channel dimensional energy through your body as naturally and regularly as you do physical food. It flows through your veins. Your body will endure more and for longer than a regular human ever could."

They sat one in front of the other, their backs straight, their legs folded. Kaecilius admired the woman across the mat. She never failed to captivate him. Her face was smooth, and yet it did not appear young. A person out of the laws that define humanity. A person out of time.

"You speak as if this should have been self-evident." Kaecilius replied. "Did it never occur to you to just tell me?"

"Knowing that in advance? What for?" She smiled again.

Usually Kaecilius found her mysteriousness attractive, but occasionally, it annoyed him to no end. Secrets and riddles always and everywhere. He considered himself a product of a more enlightened age. Frustration merely spurred him on, cemented his desire to open the forbidden door, take apart the sacred mechanism, shed light and remove covers, if only just to spite those who imagined themselves allowed to choose who deserves access to which knowledge and in what amounts.

"Longevity, then, is not a cause worthy enough to support whoever comes seeking it?" he asked.

"It's not unworthy per se," she replied. "Merely meaningless, being an end and not a means. You should know, first, what do you need those years for. What would you fill them with? The fear of an inevitable end? Then you'll merely suffer longer. No, first you should comprehend the reason. When years pass by unnoticed and full, then you achieve longevity as well, as a side-effect."

He nodded, slowly.  
"But that's not all, isn't it? Not the only reason for you being the most ancient of all living masters?"

"It seems, master Kaecilius, that your hearing becomes very selective when I speak." She shook her head.

"I must admit, this happens. But even so I remain the best of your students." He smirked. "Why don't you trust me still, then? And on the contrary, if I were so bad, why do you choose me as your favorite?"

"You're not bad," she replied, thoughtfully, and her eyes seemed unfocused, as if she stared a little past him. As if in her vision, he diverged into reflections in a faceted mirror, and she could see more than one version of him at a time. Perhaps her words were intended for another him now. "You can be bad, but so can any of us, even me. At each and every moment, we can choose anew. Isn't that what life is about?"

"Sometimes, you're impossible to talk to." Kaecilius sighed. "I don't understand. I do know that for all your inarguable benevolence, you can be very cynical. And I know that you're no stranger to lax interpretation of laws when you wish to. And I also know that despite everything, you're still human. Still a woman."

Once again, she smiled.  
"Correct. And you know all of that, because I chose to show you. Ponder on this conversation, master Kaecilius, and I'll see you at dinner."

A fan of pure energy bloomed in her hand. Kaecilius bowed.

He did ponder on that conversation for a long while later, shuffling and comparing the few facts he now had: dimensional energy, a faceted mirror...  
And he also thought of the symbol that appeared on the Ancient One's forehead when they made love.  
Did she choose to show that as well?


End file.
